


Ghost Days

by cest_what



Series: Skeleton-verse [2]
Category: Panic At The Disco
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Gen, Ghosts, Kid Fic, Skeletons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-11
Updated: 2010-04-11
Packaged: 2017-10-08 21:24:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/79644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cest_what/pseuds/cest_what
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>It was probably a problem that Spencer's best friend didn't know that he existed.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghost Days

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to [LJ](http://cest-what.livejournal.com/20624.html) February 2009.

It was probably a problem that Spencer's best friend didn't know that he existed.

Ryan had already been in the house when Spencer first arrived. Spencer had floated up to the window and peered inside to find the little figure of a skeleton sitting on the floor in the middle of a big dusty bedroom, surrounded by dozens upon dozens of scarves and waistcoats and Spencer thought maybe some curtains. He'd been frowning and holding up one and then another.

Spencer had crept inside, his eyes wide. He kept halfway inside the wall, in the shadows, where Ryan didn't see him.

Ryan made a triumphant sound and dived onto a piece of buttercup yellow material, his knee bones knocking against the floor. He tied the cloth around his neck, holding still. Then he crept up to a tall mirror by the big wardrobe. His reflection broke into a small, delighted smile.

Spencer decided that Ryan needed to smile all the time.

*

Ryan clearly needed somebody looking after him. Spencer had only been in the house a day when Ryan tripped over the top step on the grand staircase and his leg skittered off, bones tumbling to the floor below. Ryan leaned over the drop, his expression glum. His tartan cap tumbled off too, whisking through the air to slide across the floorboards.

Spencer watched from the shadows in the kitchen doorway as Ryan negotiated his way down the stairs, one hand on the railing as he hopped from step to step. When he got to the bottom he hopped over to get his hat first. Spencer wanted to tell him off for that, except that Ryan looked so happy about it, briskly brushing the dust off and setting it back on his head.

Spencer could see that Ryan's big toe bone had rolled down into a crack next to the wall, underneath the lowest window. Ryan found all the other parts of his leg, but he couldn't see the toe.

Spencer thought about it for a moment, then concentrated on making himself as solid as he possibly could. He knocked against the wooden shutters, slipping out of sight through the wall as they rattled. Ryan looked up, startled. He came closer, curious, and his eye fell on the lost toe bone.

"Oh!" he said. It was the first time Spencer had heard him say anything.

He watched Ryan reattach his toe and smiled, satisfied.

He'd known Ryan needed looking after.

*

Spencer only knew Ryan's name because Ryan wrote it in the dust on the mirror, sometimes. Spencer floated up close once Ryan had gone, his fingertips not quite touching the glass, but close enough that he could imagine they could.

_RYAN_

Spencer said it out loud to himself. His voice sounded quiet in the empty room.

*

Sometimes Spencer pretended that Ryan knew he was there. It was a game they were both playing. One day Ryan would turn around in the corridor and just grin at him, and Spencer would come out rolling his eyes and laughing.

There were lots of times when Spencer almost came out anyway. Only Ryan was so... And then when he looked so...

It was just too _important_. What if Spencer got it wrong?

The closest he got to just coming out was the time he found Ryan leaning on the top of the banister, his chin in his hands. He was staring at nothing, his expression soft with misery, and Spencer wanted to _kill_ something. He nearly marched right out and demanded what had made Ryan upset.

But he couldn't quite do it.

*

Spencer was in completely the wrong part of the house when the living-breathing boy arrived. He was up on the roof, exploring the chimney stacks. He heard the bang of the door, and then a voice ringing out, completely wrong to be Ryan's voice. Spencer went rigid.

He whisked down through the roof and through the attics and found Ryan already on the stairs, staring big-eyed over the railing at the boy down on the floor. The boy was ... he was _all wrong_. He was _loud_, and he was obnoxious and cheerful and he'd dragged some ridiculous cart with a ridiculous big lump on it under a blanket. Spencer was furious at him.

"Is anybody here?" the boy called, spinning around on his heel.

Spencer looked at Ryan, but Ryan wasn't saying anything. He was just staring, the bones of his fingers pressed tightly against his mouth. His face looked pale against his patchwork clothes, all different colours. He was looking at the living-breathing boy as if he was something amazing.

Spencer felt sick.

The living-breathing boy started up the stairs. Spencer drifted closer, still out of sight. He was close enough to see the moment that the living-breathing boy caught sight of Ryan, and the look of horror that came over his face. He saw the way Ryan flinched.

Spencer didn't even think. He just swooped in and planted himself in front of the boy, his fists clenched by his sides.

"Don't scare him," Spencer growled, and Ryan yelped and tumbled back onto the step, his stupid leg coming loose.

That was how Spencer met Ryan properly.

*

"You were _shy_," Ryan said, after Brendon had gone. He looked up at Spencer from under the rim of his felt Derby. He sounded completely thrilled.

Spencer felt himself blush. "Shut up," he said, but Ryan only smiled harder.

Spencer stared at the smile for a second. This was the best moment, he thought.

They were too excited to sleep. They sat on the landing late into the night, Ryan swinging his legs over the gap, Spencer floating with crossed legs just over the edge.

Ryan wanted to know how long Spencer had been there. Spencer couldn't even really remember, anymore.

"You're not –" Ryan shot him a nervous look. "You're not going to disappear again, are you?" He stared at Spencer as though he could stare hard enough that he pinned Spencer in place.

"No," Spencer said, his throat dry.

Ryan smiled, then looked down. "I'm glad Brendon came," he said.

Spencer scowled. Ryan was looking at his curled fingers and didn't notice.

"If he hadn't come you might not ever have come out," Ryan said. He looked up, his smile crooked but bright.

Spencer changed his mind. That was the best moment, right there. He smiled wide and put his arms out, doing a backwards somersault over the drop. "We're going to be legends, Ryan," he said, coming right way up, and Ryan was laughing. "We're going to be awesome forever." He stared at Ryan, meaning it.

Ryan nodded, pushing his white fingerbones over his mouth and laughing through them.

"Brendon can hang around too if he likes," Spencer added, feeling generous.

It wouldn't change him and Ryan.


End file.
